Telegram to hit one billion users within a year, founder says

FILE PHOTO: Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Telegram messaging app, one of the most popular social media platforms, will likely cross one billion active monthly users within a year as it is spreading like "forest fire", its billionaire founder Pavel Durov said on Tuesday.

Telegram, based in Dubai, was founded by Russian-born Durov, who left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.